Noise-suppressing dishwasher

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a dishwasher that excludes operating noise transferred forwardly through a gap between a lower end of a main body and a mounting surface, thus minimizing noise perceived by a user. The dishwasher includes a main body provided with a washing chamber; and a front panel installed at a lower part of a front surface of the main body, and provided with a lower part covering a gap between the lower end of the main body and a mounting surface. The front panel includes a closure made of a flexible material connected to the lower part of the front panel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.2007-0029462, filed Mar. 26, 2007, in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a dishwasher, and more particularly, toa dishwasher that excludes operating noise transferred through a gapbetween a lower end of a main body and a mounting surface.

2. Description of the Related Art

Korean Patent Laid-open Publication No. 10-2006-0124263 discloses adishwasher, which sprays washing water of a high pressure to dishesaccommodated in a washing chamber to wash the dishes.

In such a dishwasher, dish baskets are respectively installed in upperand lower portions of a washing chamber, and upper, middle, and lowernozzles to spray washing water to dishes received in the dish basketsare provided. Further, a washing pump to supply the washing water to therespective nozzles, a drain pump to drain the washing water, and valvesto open and close water supply channels are installed in the lowerportion of the washing chamber.

The lower end of a main body of the dishwasher is separated from amounting surface at a designated interval by a plurality of supportinglegs.

During a process of operating the above dishwasher, an operating noiseof the washing pump or the drain pump is transferred forwardly through agap between the lower end of the main body and a mounting surface. Thus,noise perceived by a user is high. Particularly, in the case that aheight of the supporting legs is increased to expand the gap between thelower end of the main body and the mounting surface, the noise may bemore highly increased.

SUMMARY

Therefore, one aspect of the embodiment is to provide a dishwasher thatexcludes operating noise transferred through a gap between the lower endof a main body and a mounting surface, thus minimizing noise perceivedby a user.

Additional aspects and/or advantages will be set forth in part in thedescription which follows and, in part, will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing adishwasher including a main body provided with a washing chamber; and afront panel installed at a lower part of a front surface of the mainbody, and provided with a lower part covering a gap between a lower endof the main body and a mounting surface.

The front panel may include a closure made of a flexible materialconnected to the lower part of the front panel.

The front panel may be installed on the front surface of the main bodysuch that a height of the front panel is adjustable with respect to themain body.

The front panel may be installed on the front surface of the main bodyusing fixing screws and screw holes, the screw holes extending in avertical direction on the front panel and being formed through regionsof the front panel to which the fixing screws are connected.

The dishwasher may further include a door installed on the front surfaceof the main body to open and close the washing chamber, and the frontpanel may be disposed at a rear of a lower end of the door such that aheight of an upper end of the front panel is higher than that of thelower end of the door.

The closure may be bent from the lower part of the front panel in aforward direction with respect to the front panel.

The main body may include a horizontal frame, and the front panel mayinclude a screw hole to receive screws, the lower end of the door beinghigher than a length of the screw hole so that the lower end of the dooris maintained above the horizontal frame of the main body.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing adishwasher, including: a main body provided with a washing chamber; anda front panel installed at a lower part of a front surface of the mainbody, the front panel being adjustable in a vertical direction withrespect to the main body.

The front panel may have a screw hole to receive screws, the lower endof the door being higher than a length of the screw hole so that thelower end of the door is maintained above the horizontal frame of themain body during adjustment.

The main body includes a lower end, and the front panel may have a lowerpart covering a gap between the lower end of the main body and amounting surface of the dishwasher.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages will become apparent and morereadily appreciated from the following description of the embodiment,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a dishwasher in accordance with a presentembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the portion “A” of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is another detailed view of the portion “A” of FIG. 1,illustrating a state in which the height of a front panel is adjusted;and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the front panel of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiment, an example ofwhich is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein likereference numerals refer to like elements throughout. The embodiment isdescribed below to explain the present invention by referring to theannexed drawings.

A dishwasher, as shown in FIG. 1, includes a main body 10 provided witha washing chamber 11 provided therein, and a door 12 installed on thefront surface of the main body 10 to open and close the washing chamber11.

An upper dish basket 13 and a lower dish basket 14 are respectivelyinstalled in upper and lower portions of the washing chamber 11. Thedish baskets 13 and 14 are supported by rails 15 installed on a surfaceof a wall of the washing chamber 11 such that they can be slid forwardlyalong the rails 15. Accordingly, in order to put dishes into thedishwasher, the door 12 is opened, and the dish baskets 13 and 14 areslid forward.

An upper nozzle 17, a middle nozzle 18, and a lower nozzle 19 to spraywashing water to the upper and lower dish baskets 13 and 14 areinstalled in the washing chamber 11. The upper nozzle 17, which islocated above the upper dish basket 13, sprays washing water downwardlyto the upper dish basket 13, and the middle nozzle 18, which is locatedbetween the upper and lower dish baskets 13 and 14, sprays washing waterupwardly to the upper dish basket 13 and downwardly to the lower dishbasket 14. Further, the lower nozzle 19, which is located below thelower dish basket 14, sprays washing water upwardly to the lower dishbasket 14. The nozzles 17, 18, and 19 are rotated, thus being capable ofspraying the washing water uniformly to the dishes in the upper andlower dish baskets 13 and 14.

A water collector 20 to collect the washing water is provided under thewashing chamber 11. The water collector 20 includes an impeller 21 tosupply the collected washing water to the respective nozzles 17, 18, and19, and a driving motor 22 installed at a lower portion of the watercollector 20 to rotate the impeller 21. A drain pump 23 to drain thecollected washing water is installed at a side of the water collector20.

The washing water, which is pumped by an operation of the impeller 21,is guided to the lower nozzle 19 by a first washing water guiding pipe24 extended upwardly from the water collector 20, and is guided to theupper nozzle 17 and the middle nozzle 18 by a second washing waterguiding pipe 25 extended from the water collector 20 toward a rear partand an upper part of the washing chamber 11. The water, which is pumpedby the drain pump 23, is discharged to the outside through a drain pipe26. A drain valve 27, which opens the drain pipe 26 when the drain pump23 is operated, and closes the drain pipe 26 when the drain pump 23 isnot operated, is installed in the drain pipe 26.

The main body 10 is provided with a lower frame 30, which stablysupports a bottom plate 28 of the washing chamber 11 and reinforces arigidity of a lower part of the main body 10. The lower frame 30includes a plurality of vertical frames 31 respectively installed atfront and rear regions of the lower part of the main body 10, aplurality of base frames 32 horizontally installed at the lower part ofthe main body 10 to connect the vertical frames 31, and a panel-typefront frame 33 installed at a front region of the lower part of the mainbody 10. The frames 31, 32, and 33 are connected by welding or usingfixing screws, for example, thus forming a stable structure of the lowerframe 30. Although FIG. 1 illustrates the frames 31 and 32 having a rodshape, the frames 31 and 32 are not limited thereto. That is, the frames31 and 32 may have a panel shape with rigidity, or a channel shapeobtained by bending a board, for example. The lower frame 20 may haveany structure which can stably support the lower part of the main body10, regardless of shape.

A plurality of supporting legs 40 to separate the lower part of the mainbody 10 from a mounting surface 100 is installed under the plurality ofthe vertical frames 31. The supporting legs 40 are connected to thelower parts of the vertical frames 31 using screws, for example. Thus,the height or horizontality of the main body 10 is adjusted bytightening or loosening the supporting legs 40.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a front panel 50 to cover the front regionof the lower part of the main body 10 and a gap between the lower end ofthe main body 10 and the mounting surface 100 is installed at the lowerpart of the main body 10. The front panel 50 covers the front region ofthe lower part of the main body 10 to provide a neat external appearanceof the dishwasher, and covers the gap between the lower end of the mainbody 10 and the mounting surface 100 to exclude operating noisetransferred forwardly through the gap between the lower end of the mainbody 10 and the mounting surface 100.

The front panel 50 is fixed to the front end of the lower frame 30 usinga plurality of fixing screws 52, for example. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4,long screw holes 53, which are extended in a vertical direction, areformed through regions of the front panel 50, to which the fixing screws52 are connected. As shown in FIG. 3, the screw holes 53 allow a heightof the front panel 50 to be controlled by adjusting the height of thesupporting legs 40 even when the gap between the lower end of the mainbody 10 and the mounting surface 100 is enlarged, thus causing the frontpanel 50 to cover the gap between the lower end of the main body 10 andthe mounting surface 100. In order to control the height of the frontpanel 50, the front panel 50 moves in the vertical direction under thecondition that the fixing screws 52 are loosened slightly, and then whenthe front panel 50 reaches a desired height, the fixing screws 52 aretightened again. While screws are shown and discussed, any fixing devicemay be used to fix the front panel 50 to the lower frame 30.

The front panel 50 includes a closure 51, made of a flexible material,connected to a lower portion thereof. The closure 51 having a designatedelasticity is closely adhered to the mounting surface 100, thuscompletely closing the gap between the lower end of the main body 10 andthe mounting surface 100. The closure 51 may be made of rubber, silicon,or flexible resin, for example, or any other type of flexible material.

The closure 51 may have a slightly bent state and thus may be closelyadhered to the mounting surface 100, as shown in FIG. 2. Thereby, theclosure 51 can completely close the gap between the lower end of themain body 10 and the mounting surface 100. When the gap between thelower end of the main body 10 and the mounting surface 100 is completelyclosed, as described above, it is possible to prevent the operatingnoise of the driving motor 22 or the drain pump 23 or the flow noise ofthe washing water from being transferred forwardly through the gapbetween the lower end of the main body 10 and the mounting surface 100.Accordingly, the dishwasher of the present embodiment remarkably reducesnoise perceived by a user, compared to conventional dishwashers.

The front panel 50, as shown in FIG. 2, is located at a rear of a lowerend 12 a of the door 12 such that a height of an upper end 50 a of thefront panel 50 is higher than that of the lower end 12 a of the door 12after the mounting of the dishwasher is completed. Preferably, even whenthe height of the main body 10 is increased by adjusting the height ofthe supporting legs 40 and the front panel 50 moves downwardly, theupper end 50 a of the front panel 50 a is located at a height higherthan the height of the lower end 12 a of the door 12. Thereby, the frontpart of the main body 10 is completely covered with the door 12 and thefront panel 50, thus providing the neat external appearance of thedishwasher.

As apparent from the above description, the present embodiment providesa dishwasher, in which a front panel covers a gap between the lower endof a main body and a mounting surface, thus excluding operating noisetransferred forwardly through the gap between the lower end of the mainbody and the mounting surface. Thus, it is possible to minimize noiseperceived by a user.

Although an embodiment has been shown and described, it would beappreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in thisembodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of theinvention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and theirequivalents.

1. A dishwasher, comprising: a main body provided with a washingchamber; and a front panel installed at a lower part of a front surfaceof the main body, and provided with a lower part covering a gap betweena lower end of the main body and a mounting surface.
 2. The dishwasheraccording to claim 1, wherein the front panel includes a closure made ofa flexible material connected to the lower part of the front panel. 3.The dishwasher according to claim 1, wherein the front panel isinstalled on the front surface of the main body such that a height ofthe front panel is adjustable with respect to the main body.
 4. Thedishwasher according to claim 3, wherein the front panel is installed onthe front surface of the main body using fixing screws and screw holes,the screw holes extending in a vertical direction on the front panel andbeing formed through regions of the front panel to which the fixingscrews are connected.
 5. The dishwasher according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a door installed on the front surface of the main body toopen and close the washing chamber, wherein the front panel is disposedat a rear of a lower end of the door such that a height of an upper endof the front panel is higher than that of the lower end of the door.